cosmic showcase

Meteor Showers and Fireballs This weekend’s meteor activity will be modest. No major shower peaks on Sept 28–29. The Orionids (parent comet Halley) have just started but are weak – current rates are well under 1 meteor/hour and won’t peak until Oct. 23 amsmeteors.org. The only notable shower is the Southern Taurids (from comet 2P/Encke), active Sept 23–Nov 12 with a broad radiant. AMS predicts a Southern Taurid rate of about 3/hour around local midnight (the radiant in Pisces, best near 1 a.m.) amsmeteors.org. All other named showers (epsilon Geminids, sextantids, etc.) are producing <1/hr amsmeteors.org amsmeteors.org. Thus most meteors will be